3TB Hard Drive Round-up: Hitachi, Seagate, WD

Article Index

Hitachi Deskstar 3TB

Hitachi Deskstar 3TB Hard Drive

Specifications & Features

Model

0S03086

Interface

SATA 6.0Gb/s

Capacity

3TB

RPM

7200 RPM

Cache

64MB

Form Factor

3.5"

Warranty

3 years limited (parts/labor)

Price

$179

How does the Hitachi Deskstar 3TB differ from the competition?The Deskstar features a relatively fast rotational speed of 7200 RPM, along with a 64MB memory buffer. Granted, the Barracuda XT also sports a 7200 RPM spindle speed, but the Hitachi drive should outperform Western Digital's offerings. Its 3 year limited warranty is on par with the industry standard, but at a retail price of $179 finds it tied for the most expensive drive in our round-up, along with the Barracuda XT. We look forward to finding out if the performance numbers can justify its price premium over the competition.

After a quick format, the drive shows up with 2.72 TiB of free space. With that much capacity in your system, it should take quite a while before needing additional storage.